LESSON II.—DECEMBER 13.—TAKING AWAY THE REAL PRESENCE.
The sanctuary and its services constituted a parable of the Messiah. Heb. 9:8, 9, R.V. “The whole worship of ancient Israel was a promise, in figures and symbols, of Christ.” Christ Himself associated the temple with His own body. John 2:19-21. “He was the One in whom all the Jewish ceremony and typical service was to find its fulfilment. He stood forth in the place of the temple; all the offices of the church centered in Himself alone.” Christ is the eternal Priest. Heb. 5:4-6. Christ is the real Sacrifice. Heb. 7:26, 27; Eph. 5:2. When Christ was lost out of the sanctuary and its services, then what was an actual provision for a defense against sin became mere ceremonialism, an excuse for sin and an offense to God. Isa. 1:10-18. The continual service of the sanctuary (1 Chron. 16:37) found its fulfilment in Christ. He is a Priest “after the order of Melchisedec” (Heb. 5:10), whose priesthood is expressly declared to be a continual priesthood (Heb. 7:1-3). In the type the priesthood passed from one to another in a continual succession (Heb. 7:23), but in the fulfilment of the type Christ is the only Priest, “because He continueth ever” (Heb. 7:24). In the type the priests offered continually and repeatedly the same sacrifices, but Christ’s one sacrifice is continual. Heb. 10:1, 11, 12. (Note.—In the Greek the same expression is used in verse 12 and translated “forever” as is used in verse 1 and there translated “continually.” In Rotherham’s translation the expression “for the uninterrupted continuance” is used in both verses.) Thus the continual priesthood and the continual sacrifice of Christ are the assurance of a complete salvation. Heb. 10:7, 24, 25. The typical service had no efficacy in itself. Heb. 10:1, 4. There must be spiritual worship with God in Christ as the center upon which faith must be fastened. Phil. 3:3.
In the Revised Version of the eighth chapter of Daniel the word “burnt-offering” is supplied after the word “continual.” This was doubtless done because the expression “the continual burnt-offering” occurs so frequently in the directions concerning the service of the tabernacle. But the ground covered by the word “continual” in the eighth chapter of Daniel is plainly broader than merely one feature of the tabernacle or temple service. It includes the permanent essence of the whole service, that “which can alone make the worship of sinful beings acceptable to God,” whether that worship is offered with or without any ritual service, with or without any typical temple and typical sacrifices. See 1 Peter 2:4, 5; Ps. 4:5; 51:16-19. This essential thing in the continual service is a present Christ, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” as “the living sacrifice for a fallen world.” To offer up such spiritual sacrifices demands such a union between Christ and the believer that the believer himself, in Christ, becomes a priest (Rev. 1:6), he becomes the temple (1 Cor. 3:16), he becomes the offering (Rom. 12:1). This is that union of divinity and humanity which is “the mystery of godliness,” whereby the church becomes the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22, 23), and each individual a member (1 Cor. 12:27). It follows, then, that to take away the continual service, or that which is continual, is to have a temple without Christ in it, a priesthood without Christ, a sacrifice without Christ, and a church without Christ. But this changes the worship of God into idolatry, and substitutes paganism for Christianity, while retaining the names and forms of Christianity. And this is just what the little horn, the Papacy, has done.
QUESTIONS.
What was the teaching of the sanctuary and its services?
What connection did Jesus make between the temple and Himself?
Who is the real Priest represented by Aaron?
Who is the real Sacrifice?
What would change the ritual service into ceremonialism and make it offensive to God?
What kind of service was maintained in the temple? In whom did it find its fulfilment?
What was the order of Christ’s priesthood? What is stated concerning this priesthood?
How many priests were there in the type? Why?
How many priests are there in the antitype? Why?
How many sacrifices were offered in the type? Why?
How many sacrifices are offered in the antitype? Why?
What blessed consequence grows out of the continual priesthood and the continual sacrifice?
Was there any benefit from the mere ritual service? Why not?
What kind of worship only is acceptable to God?
What is included under the expression “the continual” in the eighth chapter of Daniel? Show the force of this in the texts to which attention is directed?
What is this essential thing in the service and worship of God?
In the genuine spiritual worship what does the believer become through his union with Christ? Give three answers.
What does such a union with Christ constitute? What does the church thus become? What does each individual become?
What then is the result of taking away “the continual”?
What does the worship of God thus become? What is substituted for Christianity?
What power has exactly fulfilled these specifications?
